1501 John Ben Shepperd Pkwy
Odessa, TX 79761
432-362-7890
Open M-Sat 11-9
Here's a story about why I love fellow Texans. A college friend of mine (native Texan) traveled from her home in Brooklyn to visit us in Dallas. She came via Odessa, Texas from visting her own family. When she arrived at my door she hurried to the kitchen with a green collapsible cooler and instructed me to open it quickly. Confused and excited, I gripped this curiously warm cooler and unzipped it as quickly as I could. Immediately a smokiness filled the kitchen (oh, it couldn't be) as I peered at three large hunks of foiled covered mystery. Unwrapping the foil I discovered (oh yes, it could be) sliced brisket, then pork ribs, then sausage! Christmas cometh early to the Vaughn household.
As we dined, standing around the kitchen counter, Lindsay stood patiently for my opinion of her family's favorite BBQ joint. Well, the brisket could have used more time on the smoker to up the tenderness and to render the fat a little better. The smokiness was there, and good flavor resided in that crust, but the meat well below the crust was a bit roast-beefy.
Ribs were tender with well rendered fat. the meat was well seasoned, but the outside seemed to be too moist for a good crust to form. Despite that, the meat was still smoky,
The sausage may have been straight from the Sysco truck, but this proprietor knows what a good dose of smoke can do to transform an otherwise average sausage. The flavor from that smoke went deep into the juicy (fatty) meat created a complex flavor not normally found in this variety of sausage.
Overall, this meat was good if not great. But then, this was the first time I've had meat that travelled 350 miles and didn't have to be warmed at the tail end of that trip. Even with the distance, this meat held up well in the eyes of myself and my fellow diners, and did nothing to deter me from welcoming Meat Christmas anytime it's offered.
Rating ***
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